Gabriel Liiceanu


Gabriel Liiceanu is a Romanian philosopher.
He graduated from the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Philosophy in 1965, and from Faculty of Classical Languages in 1973. He earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Bucharest in 1976. Between 1965 and 1975, Liiceanu was a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy, and between 1975 and 1989 at the Institute of Art History. He received a fellowship from the Humboldt Foundation between 1982 and 1984.
He has been the manager of Humanitas publishing house since 1990. He has been professor at the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Philosophy since 1992. Liiceanu is also a founding member of the Group for Social Dialogue, president of the Romanian Publishers' Association, and member of the scientific council of New Europe College. Between 1998 and 2001, he was a member of the Romanian National Television's Administrative Board.
He was greatly influenced by his mentor, Constantin Noica, especially during the time spent at Păltiniș, an experience that he evokes in "Jurnalul de la Păltiniș". Noica, a Romanian philosopher known abroad as well as in the country, used to take his most valuable students and followers to his small house at Păltiniș, where he would teach them what they afterwards called "not philosophy lessons, but spiritual experiences". Another Noica follower who was invited to Păltiniș was Andrei Pleșu. Liiceanu refers to that experience in his books as the "Păltiniș School" and the term began to be widely accepted and used in Romanian, as well as European, philosophy. Liiceanu continued to publish well into the 2000s, and he remains a mainstream figure in Romanian intellectual public life, with close connections with Andrei Pleșu, Monica Lovinescu, and Virgil Ierunca. One critic, Gabriel Andreescu, suggested that Liiceanu allegedly facilitated extremism by allowing his publishing house to edit the works of inter-war Romanian figures whom Andreescu accused of being "ideologues of right-wing extremism".

Work

Books

Tragicul. O fenomenologie a limitei și depășirii, 1975Încercare în politropia omului și a culturii, 1981Jurnalul de la Păltiniș. Un model paideic în cultura umanistă, 1983Le Journal de Păltiniș, La Decouverte, Paris, 1998Paltiniș Diary, CEU Press, Budapest and New York, 2000Epistolar, 1987, coauthor and editorApel către lichele, 1992Cearta cu filozofia. Eseuri, 1992Despre limită, 1994De la limite, Ed. Michalon, Paris, 1997Itinerariile unei vieţi: EM. Cioran urmat de Apocalipsa după Cioran. Trei zile de convorbiri - 1990, 1995Itineraires d'une vie: E.M. Cioran suivi de Les Continents de l'insomnie, Ed. Michalon, Paris, 1995Apocalypsen enligt Cioran, Dualis Forlags, Ludvika, Suedia, 1997Declarație de iubire, 2001Ușa interzisă, 2002Om și simbol. Interpretări ale simbolului în teoria artei și filozofia culturii, 2005Despre minciună, 2006Despre ură, 2007Scrisori către fiul meu, 2008Întâlnire cu un necunoscut, 2010Întâlnire în jurul unei palme Zen, 2011Meeting with a Stranger
His books are currently being published in Brazil by Editora Monergismo.

Translations

From Greek and German:

Movies

Exercițiu de admirație, 1991, with Constantin Chelba
  • interview with Eugène Ionesco, 1992Apocalipsa după Cioran, 1995, with Sorin Ilieșiu

Audiobooks

Ușa interzisă, 2003Noica, 2003, with Andrei Pleșu Apel către lichele, 2006Declaraţie de iubire, 2006Sebastian, mon frère. Scrisoare către un frate mai mare, 2006Strategii ale seducţiei. De la Romeo și Julieta la sărutul cioranian, 2006

Awards